Industry should heed Flint's marker

摘要

Bravo douglas flint. The rant by HSBC's chairman in the group's interim statement against the onslaught of incoherent and globally ill-fitting banking regulation - together with its extra-territorial tentacles and political interference - made for fabulous reading, Would he have been so outspoken had the group's first-half earnings been more upbeat? Who knows, but it was nonetheless the clearest and most articulate narrative I've seen to date from a senior figure in global banking around the massive operational and human challenges that are facing banks to comply with wacky rules - not to mention the political intimidation behind the rules - and the impact they're having on deflecting banks' attention and detracting from the task of serving customers.